NZB Ready to Run Entries Close Friday

Entries for New Zealand Bloodstock's 2011 Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds - the most successful Sale of its kind in Australasia - close this Friday 12 August.

A Sale that has cemented its place as a leading source of top flight thoroughbreds, New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale continues to field copious stakeswinners, with ten Group 1 winning graduates in the last five seasons alone.

With a reputation for providing well-educated young horses full of potential, combined with the rigorous safeguards NZB has in place to ensure the integrity of this Sale remains paramount, buyer demand continues to grow.

Shootoff (centre) wins the 2011 Group 1 Queensland Derby

Last year's bumper offering of 494 two-year-olds attracted a powerful Australian buying bench which stepped up to spend over $4.6 million on 69 horses. Similarly buyers from across Asia - attracted by quality on offer and the speed with which their new purchases can be hitting their home tracks - continue to display their unwavering support for this market.

This season the new wave of winners to fly the flag for the Sale was headed by the Group 1 victor Shootoff (Duelled).

Shootoff had a highly successful season for his trainer Graeme Rogerson placing in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes and the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes before taking his first black-type victory in the Group 2 Frank Packer Plate by three-and-a-half lengths. He then ran a good fourth to Scenic Shot in the Group 1 Doomben Cup before running away with his headline victory in the Group 1 Queensland Derby.

Shootoff's win in the Group 1 Queensland Derby is one of a host of victories by Ready to Run graduates in Australia's black-type races last season. Other successful graduates to claim stakes races across the Tasman last season include Linton (Galileo) who won the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes and placed in the Group 1 Australian Cup and Group 1 BMW Stakes, Folding Gear (Johar) who took the Group 2 Autumn Classic and Sworn to Secrecy (Keeper) who beat the older mares in the Group 2 Emancipation Stakes.

These stakes wins, along with other black-type winners including Enjin Number Nine (Zenno Rob Roy) and The Underworld (High Chaparral) have seen the Sale maintain its foothold in Australia's black-type ranks.

Military Move takes the 2010 Group 1 New Zealand Derby

In Hong Kong the dual Group 1 winner Able One was again the feature representative for the Sale as he added more black-type to his outstanding record when taking the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile. Hong Kong buyers were prominent in last year's Sale purchasing 20 two-year-olds for a total of over $2.3 million.

Singapore continues to be a happy hunting ground for Ready to Run graduates with the current 2011 season seeing Fatkid (Handsome Ransom) win the SGP-2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup and Dontellthewife (Volksraad) taking the SGP-3 Moonbeam Stakes. Singapore buyers made up a large part of the international buying bench last year when purchasing 38 horses for a total of just under $2 million.

Macau Jockey Club was also in the top five buyers in the 2010 Sale purchasing seven horses for a total of just shy of $500,000. The Macau racing ranks have too been the subject of Ready to Run success this season with St Peters Gift taking the second stakes victory of his career in the M-2 Macau Director's Cup.

Make sure you capture the strong demand for the well-educated young horses that this Sale is renowned for producing by entering your two-year-olds today.

Entries for New Zealand Bloodstock's 2011 Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds close this Friday 12 August. For Entry forms or Sale enquiries, please contact New Zealand Bloodstock at reception@nzb.co.nz or call 09 298 0055.